Develop Conference: Editors’ Picks

Michael French

Editor-in-chief

Public Service Gaming
Thursday, 11:00 – 12:00; Alice Taylor, Channel 4
Channel 4 is one of the most interesting of the ‘new wave’ of games companies, mixing content commissioning with its public service remit. These insights should make for an illuminating session.

Designer mash-up: David Braben and Dave Jones play Elite and GTA
Wednesday, 13:30 – 14:30
Dave Jones and David Braben are real luminaries, and to be able to see them play their games and give insights into their design and development processes should prove fascinating.

DESIGN KEYNOTE: Building LEGO Worlds – online, offline, and everything in between
Thursday, 13:00 – 14:00; Jonathan Smith
TT’s Jonathan Smith is known for his clever takes on LEGO worlds, and it’ll be interesting to see how his methods differ from US studio and LEGO MMO developer NetDevil, in this show-off.

Ed Fear

Deputy Editor

Lessons Learned at the Global Game Jam
Thursday, 13:00 – 14:00; Susan Gold, Full Sail
This year’s Global Game Jam event saw over 1,600 people working together to create games, and this session will explore how that rapid prototyping can help full-scale development.

10 Things Nobody Tells You About Digital Distribution and Self-Publishing…
Tuesday, 11:45 – 12:30; Martyn Brown, Team 17
Every developer is talking about embracing the self-publishing movement online, but it’s not without it’s own pitfalls, which Brown – having turned Team 17 into an exclusively self-publishing studio – will enumerate from his experience.

CODING KEYNOTE: PlayStation: Cutting Edge Techniques
Thursday, 11:00 – 12:00; Kish Hirani, SCEE
People looking to learn surface details about the PS3’s motion controller – its price, its release date – will be disappointed, but this highly technical talk will fill developers in on the nitty gritty of working with the new tech.

Will Freeman

Staff Writer

From Light Bulb to Console: The Writing Process
Wednesday, 16:30 – 17:30; Sini Downing, James Swallow, Justin Villiers, Andy Walsh
Three of the industry’s leading writers shed light on the mysteries of dialogue for those not directly involved in game scripting.

ART KEYNOTE: The Art of LittleBigPlanet
Wednesday, 16:30 – 17:30; Kareem Ettouney and Mark Healey, Media Molecule
The Media Molecule founders and art director discuss the creative processes behind integrating a game’s look and functionality.

Rob Crossley

Online Editor

Are You Going to Retire as a Game Developer?
Wednesday, 11:00 – 12:00; Ed Daly, Zoe Mode
Not many people consider their future in the games industry, largely because it’s so young itself – but, as the pioneers get older, where do you go from here?

Gamesification: Turning Other Things into Games
Thursday, 16:00 – 17:00; Maurice Suckling, The Mustard Corporation
Game versions of other IP are, in general, mistreated – so how do we go about doing a better job of it? Suckling’s session will examine case studies and, hopefully, give all sorts of helpful tips.